Skip Navigation
The Collection >
How useful are voluntary medication error reports? The case of warfarin-related medication errors.
Zhan C, Smith SR, Keyes MA, Hicks RW, Cousins DD, Clancy CM. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2008;34:36-45.

Warfarin therapy is frequently associated with adverse drug events. Past efforts to identify potential prevention strategies have focused on using specific indicators or triggers to detect such events. This study examined more than 9000 errors in warfarin use submitted voluntarily through MEDMARX, a database that tracks medication information from participating hospitals. Investigators discovered that inpatient warfarin-related errors occurred most frequently during transcription/documentation and administration, while outpatient errors occurred most frequently during prescribing and dispensing. Using warfarin data as an example, the authors discuss the utility of voluntary error reporting systems and outline the limitations in their use.

PubMed citation icon indicating hyperlink to external website
Available at icon indicating hyperlink to external website
white box
Related Resources
TOOLS/TOOLKIT
Introduction to Trigger Tools for Identifying Adverse Events.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE ARTICLE
Technological methods used to prevent errors aren't infallible.
Santell JP. Mater Manage Health Care. December 19, 2006;15:26-28, 30.
STUDY
The safety of hospital stroke care.
Holloway RG, Tuttle D, Baird T, Skelton WK. Neurology. 2007;68:550-555.
STUDY
Adverse drug events resulting from patient errors in older adults.
Field TS, Mazor KM, Briesacher B, Debellis KR, Gurwitz JH. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2007;55:271-276.
View all related resources...
white box
Download: Adobe Reader   email icon Email
tan box
Find Related Resources by...
Resource Type   
 style=
Setting of Care  
 style=
Safety Target  
 style=
Error Types  
 style=
Approach to Improving Safety  
 style=
Origin/Sponsor  
white box